Hollow Boy
by XxPorcelainKnightXx
Summary: "Hollow Boy? Why's he called that?" "He tends to hang among the hollows, the trees, and every time there's been a sighting of him, he seems almost dead, empty, hollow." TeMPoRaRY HiaTuS


Hallow Boy

Deep into the forest, where all the trees were dead and warped for that constant eerie Halloween look, you could hear humming. It was a well-known song of the town, but it was off. The notes were wrong, some too long, some to short, some missing. The voice obviously belonged to a boy, but it was evident there was something wrong. In a place where fear was loved, screams were ravished, horror was honor… There was something so off about the boy, it even terrified those who felt that way about such things. He sat on the dirt that would never flourish lavish plants, dirt that made the dessert ground look like an oasis. He continued humming his off song to himself while his ice-blue glazed over eyes followed the stick that he was using to draw into the dirt- one of his very few pass times- the design unknown.

"U-Um, hello!" A voice called. "The Professor told me to tell you to stay here and not come by the town for a while because we're having very important guests over and we'd hate for you to make them not want to come back." The humming stopped. The skeletal man looked around, nervously. Silence meant he couldn't tell where he was, and no one wanted him too close. "U-Um, th-that's all! So, be sure to stay here for a few days! Understand?" It remained quiet… Then the humming continued. The skeletal man sighed, assuming the boy understood, and started a discreet fast walk back to town.

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・Kingdom Hearts・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

Music played from speakers set up all over town. It was on loop of one song, the residents loved it, and not a one tired of it. One current guest in particular did as well. You could see the shadow figure swaying its arms and legs, evident it was in a good mood. There were two other figures next to it. On the occasion, the trio would walk past a pumpkin lantern that would illuminate them, displaying segments of their costumes. Once the song came back to loop to the beginning, you could hear one shadow figure singing.

"…Trick or treat 'til the neighbors die of fright! It's our town, everybody SCREAM!" the shadow sang, making its voice resemble a mouse singing on the word "Scream".

"In this town of Halloween! I am the one hiding under you bed, teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red. I am the one hiding under your stairs, fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair. This is Halloween, this is Halloween!"

"…Kairi…" A deep male voice, said, obviously annoyed.

"…Halloween, Halloween! In this town, we call home, everyone hail to the pumpkin song. In this town, don't we love it now! Everybody's waiting for the next surprise. Round that corner, man hiding in the trash-can. Something waiting to pounce, and how you'll SCREAM!" The girl sang, jumping her fingers out to the shadow that had previously ridiculed her. The word "scream" resembled a witch trying to sing.

"Kairi! Shut up!" The shadow to her right yelled again. The one to her left laughed.

"This is Halloween, red, black 'n' slimy green. Aren't you scared? Well that's just fine…"

The red-headed girl continued her version of the song making the shadow to her right sigh, evident she wasn't going to stop until they reached their destination.

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・Kingdom Hearts・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

"…La, la, la, lala, la, la, la, lala, la-"

"Kairi, for everything that is unholy in this town, _please_ stop!" Kairi nudged the silver-haired boy in the arm. "Oh, boo. Your no fun, Riku. Sora enjoyed my song." Kairi said, her head motioning to a boy with brown spiky hair. "That's because he's tone deaf!" Riku retorted. "Hey! I resent that!" Sora said, clenching his fists at Riku.

Kairi was wearing a white, dark pink, and black gothic lolita styled dress. The base color was a dark, dirty looking pink, that opened up into dingy white ruffles that belled out with the rest of the dress. The sleeves fell off of her shoulders to reveal beautifully delicious looking creamy skin, which, the sleeves being spoken of, had decent sized holes lined with metal that resembled those in certain types of belts, as well of the stitching on the dress was black. Her hands were covered in what appeared as loose, pink ribbon, but stay in spite of all that she had done so far. She had a mask in the opposing place as Sora's, and it was a blood red, broken and rotting heart. Kairi also had what looked like stitches on both sides of her mouth, and looked deathly exhausted.

Riku was in a shirt that resembled the one he had on before his form change, but was black instead of yellow, and short enough to show all of his stomach. His pants also resembled his old ones, but were blood red and darker than black with rips that had Franken-Stein patch up work, meet with his usual belt, but the buckle was replaced with a laughing pumpkin that scared Sora the first time it chuckled when they arrived. It only did so if Riku himself was amused, which he enjoyed.

He had a red animalistic collar on his neck that looked like the chain was broken off of something and what looked like a black version of Sora's gloves and bandages on his upper left arm. He a long black and red arm-warmer on the opposing arm, accompanied by a red spiked bracelet. He was adorned with working devil wings with sharp, red horns coming out of his skull and a tail that flicked when he got agitated. His shoes were yellow with thick black rings, his face looked deathly pale with rings under his eyes that were so bad they were starting to look purple.

Sora was in his usual outfit whenever he came to Halloween Town.

"Oh, Sora! You're here!" They were currently outside the door that lead to the Professor's lab. Sora turned his attention to the tall, lanky remains of a man that had addressed him. "Jack!" Sora said. "Well, hello to you too! Are these fellows also your friends?" Jack asked, moving his arms in a widespread motion towards Riku and Kairi and bending down towards them with his knees. "Yup. I'm Kairi and this here is Riku." Kairi replied, giving the man a smile and pointing a thumb at said boy. Jack held his elbow in one hand and tapped his cheek bone with the other. "Kairi… Kairi… Oh, yeah! Now I remember! You really are Sora's friend! He mentioned you quite a lot!" Riku crossed his arms and look at Sora. "Wha-What?"  
>Jack approached the tallest of the trio, but he himself was still much taller. "And this is Riku? Why, Sora mentioned you just as much!" Riku's face paled (if possible) as he blushed. "See!" Sora said, retorting to their silent argument. "S-Sorry then…" He mumbled, looking the other way. "Jeeze. You two…" Kairi said, shaking her head. "Anyways, come inside, come inside! The Professor says he'd like to talk to you about all something before we talk about this year's Halloween plans."<p>

That's what they were there for. Jack had decided Sora's fighting skills were "frighteningly terrifying", and the fact that he had defeated Oogie not once, but twice was astounding! Thus, he just _had_ to help with this year's Halloween. Of course any close friends of Sora's were a friend of Jack's and everyone else in the town, thus Riku and Kairi's presence. "Okay." Sora said, nodding. "Come on guys." He said, waving his gloved hand over his shoulder. Kairi eagerly followed him, humming the song that still played over the speakers. "I swear to god, by the time we get home…" Riku mumbled, looking sick as he stepped into the doorway after everyone else. It's not that he didn't enjoy the song. It was actually quite the contrary. Kairi was just going to sing it non-stopped the entire time…

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・Kingdom Hearts・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

"Hallow Boy?" Sora repeated, his head tipped. "Yes. As long as you stay out of the woods and away from the edge of town, you shouldn't run into him." The Professor said. Riku peeled himself off of the wall. "Why is he called that?" Kairi inquired. "For two reasons: He tends to hang among the hollows, the trees, and every time there's been a sighting of him, he seems almost dead, empty, hollow." The Professor said, never turning around as he answered Kairi's question.  
>"And he's a threat how?" The Professor turned his chair to face Riku. "There's just something off about him- and not in a good way. Like those monsters that showed up here that one time. We're just being cautious." Sora remembered what they were talking about, but vaguely. They were those heartless that Jack wanted to use for Halloween, but… they were, well, heartless. "How can something be off in a good way?" Kairi asked, tipping her head. "Sora." Riku stated simply. "Oh…" Kairi said with an air of realization. "Hey!" He retorted. "Sorry." Kairi said, giving him an apologetic smile. Sora turned around, crossed his arms, and pouted. "Oh," Kairi said coming up behind Sora and wrapping her arms around his neck. She had to stand on her tip-toes because of how tall he had gotten, but they were still both no match for Riku. "You're fine and you know it." He glared at the floor, but then it melted into a smile. "…Yeah…" She cheesed at him. "Told ya!"<p>

Kairi let go and turned her attention back to the Professor, feet now flat on the floor. "So, anyways, just stay out of the woods and away from the edge of town for now, right?" He nodded. "Right." Kairi gave him a smile. "We could just handle him." Riku implied. "Well, that's the thing. We don't think he's a monster like the ones you all fight. We think he's like you or me. The Professor is currently investigating it." Jack said, answering Riku's question. "Well, just so you know, we did fight monsters that looked human." Riku mumbled, thinking about Ansem and Xemnas in particular. The Professor turned himself around to a desk full of graphs and charts. "Well I will _definitely_ keep that in mind." Riku nodded.

"Okay. So, are we going to discuss plan's here Jack, or somewhere else?" Kairi asked, wanting to start as soon as possible. Jack nodded. "Here, my dear. But first, if you don't mind, we're low on supplies." Sora nodded. "Okay. Just tell us what you need and we'll get it."

"Well thanks for volunteering me, Sora." Riku said, his voice sounding annoyed. Sora turned to Riku. "H-Huh? Oh, I'm sorry, Riku…" Sora mumbled, looking at the floor like a kid that had just gotten yelled at by their parent. Riku laughed and shook his head. "It's fine. If I wasn't ready to do stuff like this, I wouldn't of come." Sora looked up at Riku. "Huh? O-Oh, Okay!" Sora said, then gave him a warm smile. "Okay, so what do you want us to get, Jack?" Kairi asked. "Well, it's a long list, so you might-"

"It's fine." Sora said, cutting him off. Riku nodded. "Yeah. That girl's got a mind like a steel trap." They both were probably thinking about before the heartless incident at their island how Kairi always sent them to get a manner of things, and who got what and how much, and remembered it all, no paper needed. The Professor rubbed his chin. "…Hm, Really, now?" He asked, obviously intrigued.

"U-Um, it's an expression." Kairi said nervously, slowly edging behind the boys just in case. She enjoyed Halloween and all, but she was in no way going to permanently resemble Sally. She liked how she looked, nothing against Sally. "Yeah. It just means she has a good memory." Riku explained calmly. "Oh…" The Professor said, sounding slightly disappointed.

"A-Any way, what do you need Jack?" Kairi asked, peaking around Riku's shoulder. "Well, I need seven bats- mainly for their wings, several toads and a handful of creepy-crawlies, about six snakes, um…" Jack tapped his chin and started pacing. "Okay, got it so far." Kairi said, nodding. "Oh, and these you might need Zero to help you for. Sora knows where he is, don't you Sora?" Jack asked, turning to face the brunette. Sora nodded. "Yup." Jack smiled. "Good. You'll need around eleven deadly night-shade mushrooms- oh, but don't worry. They're not really deadly- as long as you don't eat them. Eight explosive mini-pumpkin bombs- and these really do explode, so you have to be careful taking them out and bringing them back. Four broken hearts, and twenty-two rats. Do you get all of that Kairi, dear?" Kairi nodded. "Um-hum. If you like, I can repeat it." Jack nodded. "I'm sure the professor would love to see what your mind is capable of." Kairi nodded.

"Okay. So you want twenty-two rats, Eleven deadly-nightshade mushrooms, eight explosive mini-pumpkin bombs, seven bats, six snakes, five bugs, four broken hearts and three toads." Jack nodded. "Astounding! You even listed it from greatest to least! It'd be even more astounding though if you could bring all of that back."

"We can do that and more, no worries!" Sora said, hitting his chest and giving Jack a big grin. "Um…" A shy voice said, coming down the stairs. "I don't mean to be a bother, but the Professor and I are both out of forget-me-not's and lizard tongue's…" Sally said, making herself fully visible.

"It's no problem at all Sally. Did you have a specific number?" Kairi said. Sally shook her head. "No. Even one of each would be fine." Kairi nodded. "Okay. We'll get you however many we can find." Sally smiled. "Thank you." Kairi nodded. "Would you like to come?" Sally looked behind her shoulder at the Professor, who was currently working on something at his desk, mumbling to himself, then back to Kairi. "Sorry." Kairi shook her head. "It's fine. I understand."

"Okay, let's go." Riku said, already heading for the door. Sora followed and Kairi waved good-bye to everyone, then quickly headed for the door to catch up with the boys.

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・Kingdom Hearts・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

"So, just out of curiosity, how in the hell are we going to get broken hearts?" Riku asked while Sora lead the way to the grave Zero slept in. His arms were behind his head as he walked. "Well, it may not _literally_ be broken hearts." Riku turned his head to look at Sora who was currently walking in the middle instead of Kairi this time. "…And the lizard tongue?" It was quiet for a moment. "…Yoooouuu can get that…" Sora said, thinking about attempting to take a komodo dragons tongue with a pair of pliers. It didn't work out to well… In his mind, Riku was holding its mouth open and ended up wrestling it for his finger back… Sora shuddered at the thought. Maybe he'd get it after all. Better him than Riku, right? Well, actually better no one… "Hey," Kairi said, and stopped walking. They were currently in front of the stairs that lead to the graveyard. "Hn?" Sora looked over his shoulder at Kairi, who was just standing there, entranced by something. "What is it?" He asked, turning to her and getting a bit worried. "Do you hear that?" Riku sighed. "Kairi, I know we're in Halloween Town and all but-"

"No, I'm serious. Listen." Riku sighed again, but listened anyway. Sora tipped his head. "I don't hear anything odd." Riku shrugged. "Me neither. All I hear is the town song." Kairi kept listening. "Me too, but… it sounds off…" Kairi shook her head and bit her bottom lip and stared but without looking at the floor. Sora looked around for a possible source. "Know what I think? Kairi passed out listening to Zelda and Yoko Shimomura's music backwards again." Kairi's gaze shot up towards Riku. "Did not!" She retorted. "Then why are you the only one hearing it?" He asked, crossing his arms. "Because both you're heads are full of mush that leaks out of your ears!" Kairi yelled and stormed off in front of them. Riku rolled his eyes and pointed with his thumb in front of them. When his friend didn't reply, he called him to get his attention. "Sora?" Sora jumped and turned towards Riku. "Come on. Stop spacing out and lets go." Sora nodded. "Uh, y-yeah." He mumbled, looking over his shoulder again. The pair started walking at a leisurely pace while Kairi fumed ahead of them.

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・Kingdom Hearts・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

"…W0uld y0u l!le t0 sss&& s0m&th!ng… str ng&…?" He quietly sang. It more or less came out a whisper. He had been humming it for the sake of just feeling the odd sensation of his throat vibrating. The line was fitting, because they were strange. They weren't usually there- in that town. He vaguely remembered them being mentioned without being mentioned. The skeleton man? Yes, he had mentioned "Special guests". They must have been them. He desperately wanted to know what was so special though… He watched through the main gate that was covered in dead, gangly, thin vines and thorns that were as equally dead, but still very sharp. He knew because several were currently in his hand for forgetting and gripping at the gate. Between his exquisite hiding ability, the dark, and the mass amount of dead plants to cover him, the only thing you could see of him was his eye, but only if one was set on finding it. They had stopped for some reason. The girl stopped first, so he blamed her.  
>He watched the one with the orange mask covering the upper-half of his face. Something about him interested him- not that the other two weren't. He was just more so for some reason… Like how something simple stood out among a ridiculous amount of complex things. A good metaphor considering he liked things simple. They were quiet for some reason. The boy looked up, his. Towards him. He just stared. Could he see? A single eye stared at the other single, studding. He for some reason wanted to climb the gate and go over to him, but do what once he got there? Yes, he was dressed in a terrifying fashion like all of the rest of them, but… he himself wasn't like them, and not just because he was strange. He didn't know why he thought that, but he did- A form of awkward intuition- Which is why he probably wanted to meet him. If anything else, just get a closer look at him. What would probably be even more terrifying was if he <em>did<em> turn out like the rest… Oh… He was leaving… "Ar&n'+ y0u scar&d…?" He sang. Yes, he was… But wasn't that just fine?

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・Kingdom Hearts・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

"Okay, so, so far we've got…?" Sora asked, turning towards Kairi. "Well, we have six out of twenty-two rats, two out of eleven deadly-nightshade mushrooms, no explosive mini-pumpkin bombs, two out of seven bats, three out of six snakes, courtesy of Riku," Riku rubbed his arms and prayed that they weren't poisonous. Kairi continued. "eight different bugs out of five, no broken hearts, three out of three toads, ten forget-me-not's, and no lizard tongue's." Sora nodded. "Alright. We're doing good considering. If we cross this bridge, we'll end up where Oogie's hide-out used to be, and there's a sewer system that leads to the fountain back at town." It was quiet as Riku and Kairi stared at Sora. "What? It's not really sewer. It's just green colored water. I asked Jack." Kairi sighed and Riku just looked to the side, still curious about the true nature of his best friend. The real question was if he asked him after or before he used it… "But, below us on this bridge is water. There might be mushrooms by the edge." Riku said, actually looking where he was glancing and not just trying to temporarily avoid Sora's face. Sora nodded in agreement. "Okay." Sora and Riku jumped down while Kairi waited with the supplies, just in case. Zero circled around the bag, then laid down on it. Kairi smiled at him and petted the ghost dog.

The mushrooms were a black-purple color, Riku had said they looked bruised. "Yup. I see tons of them." Riku said, scanning the water's edge. Sora nodded. "Yeah. Let's get to it." Kairi swayed her legs as she watched the boys gathering mushrooms. It only took a moment before she got bored and decided to look elsewhere.

"…Hn? Hey, guys? Aren't these pumpkin's what we're looking for?" Kairi asked, pointing to semi-distant pumpkin's. Sora glanced up, then went back to getting mushrooms. "Yup. We'll get 'em in a sec." Kairi stood up and brushed her backside off. "It's fine, I'll get them." Riku sighed and looked up at Kairi with a big-brother look. "Kairi, need I remind you they're _explosive_?" Kairi pouted. "Oh, boo. Who do you think did all the running around and getting stuff on our island while you two were gone?"

"Wakka." Riku replied before Kairi even officially finished her sentence. "Dang it!" Kairi said, snapping her fingers. Sora laughed at his friends fighting. "Well, if Kairi says she can get them, I trust her." Riku put his hands on his waist. "Thing is though, I don't trust _you_." Sora stopped mushroom snooping and looked up at Riku. "Hey!" He said, obviously offended for the ump-teenth time that day. "No. Kairi, trade. You come find the 'shroms, I'll get the pumpkin's." Kairi sighed. "Fine." She said, her mind running with smack talk about how he wouldn't let her get pumpkins, but instead things that could make a person high, but couldn't pick which on in particular to say, so she stayed quiet.

She jumped down off of the bridge into the water, splashing Sora who was closest. "Kairi!" Sora wined. Kairi giggled at him. "Now you're a sopping mess!" Kairi said, laughing at how Sora looked like a drowned puppy. "Not funny!" Kairi giggled and came over to Sora. "Jeeze you should of just stayed on the edge where the mushrooms are."

Riku decided to leave them alone to take a break while he picked pumpkin's. He would yell at them to get back to work in a minute. That's how it usually was anyways. "Maybe you shouldn't of jumped!" Sora wined. Kairi stopped and stared. "Oh boo! You know you would of jumped off the edge too if you were me!_" _Sora scratched the back of his head. "…Point taken- but I would of done it over on the other side- where I wouldn't of gotten you wet!" Kairi nibbled her bottom lip and gave him a sheepish look. "Sorry. Here, at least dry off your face and hair." Kairi said, reaching into one of her pockets and pulling out a handkerchief. Sora took the white handkerchief from her and started wiping his face. Kairi hauled herself back up onto the bridge and rummaged through her bag for a towel- always the ever prepared.

When Sora moved the handkerchief, the second before he blinked, he could of sworn he saw something… or someone- wait, no, this was Halloween town, so something… but, now it was gone. It could of just been his eyes playing tricks on him- or because of how this town was… but, wait… "Um… hey, guys? How far from town do you think we are?" Riku found it amusing how the stalks of the pumpkin's needed to be broken open, then disconnected from one specific piece so it didn't explode. Like busting the plastic lining of several wires to disconnect one- Good thing he enjoyed a decent action flick every now and again. "Not far. Why?" Riku replied not looking up from his project. Sora shook his head. "just wondering." It was gone, so it didn't matter, right? Kairi let herself down gently this time, as to so she didn't splash Sora again. "Okay. Come here, you drenched puppy." she said. Kairi. She removed the mask from his head and dried him off as if she were his mother. "I can do it myself you know…" He mumbled. "Yeah, but you always miss spots because your careless." She said, continuing.

It was quiet for a minute, Kairi almost done when Sora made a face, moving a bit away from Kairi. "…Huh? Hey guys, what's Zero doing?" Kairi stopped and looked behind herself, as well as Riku. Zero was flying around in circles on the sky, then zipped back and forth, then started barking at a wall. "What the hell?" Riku said, standing up. Sora had a gut wrenching feeling in the pit of his stomach. Where Zero was barking was where he saw…

"…Guys, I think we should go back to town for a bit." Sora said whirly. Riku started hauling the pumpkin's over to the supply bag and Kairi nodded. "Okay…" She started picking up all of the deadly-nightshade mushroom's the boys had collected. "…You guys feel it too right? Like the air just suddenly changed?" Sora asked, boosting Kairi up onto the bridge. Riku stopped packing the pumpkin's. "…Like it just got colder, darker and more ominous?" Sora nodded. "Which is why we should hurry up and get out of here." Kairi said, putting almost all of the mushroom's into the bag and quickly following them.

"Would it be wrong to take out my keyblade just in case?" Sora asked, looking around nervously. Riku shook his head. "Don't- _just in case._" Riku said, not wanting to look like an idiot with an idiot. "Let's just hurry up. If anyone asks if- but only if nothing happens- the bag got heavy." Kairi nodded. "Come here, Zero." Zero ignored her and kept barking. "Zero!" Kairi called again. Again, he ignored her. "Zero! Come! Now!" Riku ordered harshly. The dog growled for a moment longer, but none the less came to Riku. Zero came over and landed on Riku's shoulder. Riku petted his head. "Good boy…" He picked up the supply bag and helped Sora onto the bridge, offering him his hand which was taken with ease. They all started walking back to the gate, then Kairi stopped. "Shoot! One sec, guys, I left the towel on the bridge- one of three, so we need it." She said, arguing her point before either of them even got to say anything about it. Sora gave Kairi a worried look. "Hurry up." Riku ordered, upset she was going back for frivolous things. Kairi nodded- She was going to hurry whether he wanted her to or not. Kairi quickly trotted over to the bag and reached down to get it-

That's when Zero started barking uncontrollably.

"Kairi!" Riku called.

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・Kingdom Hearts・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

He was told to stay away from town… and they weren't in town. They were… wherever they were… He didn't know. He only knew town was that place full of everyone that didn't like him… But either way, with scattered and disconnected logic, he considered himself fine. It's not like they even knew he was there… Right? He found that they were looking for things. Things that he knew nothing about, but knew exactly where they were. Right now, they were getting those mushrooms that tasted better warm… They usually gave him a stomach ache afterwards though… He watched the boys get the mushrooms while the girl sat on the bridge, swaying her legs and petting the ghost dog. All of them had their backs to him, and even the dog was unaware of him.

Then again, he was dead, so maybe his nose was too… He scratched at the scar that ran across his own nose. They all liked to talk a lot. It was amazing how much talking one could do if you knew lots of words… Nou, n0u, N hh0u… He quietly droned. He heard that stupid word a lot. "No", "Don't", "Stay away", things of that nature.

The way they said them was what hurt though. They would either yell, or say it like he scared them. A lot of them hadn't even seen him, so why would they be scared? It didn't make sense. Only if you could see something, then could it really become scary. He always saw them when they talked to him, but they never saw him. He made sure of that. Would he be scared if he saw him? Yes, no? "Ye$$u, n0u…" he mumbled. The girl might be scared. He scared the last one… If she didn't get scared, then neither would he, right? But still… _He_ was scared of what they'd do if _they_ were scared, so only a little closer. He wouldn't actually go over to them… "N0u, n0u…" He scolded himself. No meeting, seeing, greeting- just closer. He walked away from them, glancing over his shoulder at them and noticing the boy with the orange mask was looking where he just was. He kept walking until he reached this awkward sized hole in the bricks. No normal person would be able to fit through it, but he was obviously not normal. He grabbed onto his shoulder and pulled it forwards until it popped. He then shifted his weight to onto his right foot and did the same to his left hip. He winced on that one. He then edged himself through the awkward hole until he was on the other side in a heaping brush. He pushed his shoulder back until it popped, and the same with his hip. He heard a faint sound in that resembled a breeze. He looked up and noticed the dog flying around in circles. It must of heard him un-popping his shoulder and hip and got scared. He decided to ignore it and watch the trio- mainly his favored boy in the orange mask. The girl was drying his hair with a big, white cloth. He was jealous. She got to touch the person he wanted to meet most…

They noticed the dog flying around. He blew a quiet raspberry at the dog, which resulted in it barking at him. He jumped a bit, but then just stared at it with his head tipped. "ZERO! COME! NOW!" He visibly jumped at how loud the other boy was. Were they leaving already? Why? Oh, no… Were they scared of him even though they didn't see him, too? Even the one in the orange masks looked scared… He felt a feeling that made his body shudder and feel heavy weigh upon him, mainly sinking into his stomach. He buried his face into his arms, which were supported by his legs that were pulled into his chest. He almost felt sick. How could he expect anything else? They were all the same weren't they? Even if they seemed otherwise… He looked back up at them, leaving. They were at the gate.

…Wasn't that there's? That funny looking cloth that she had used on the boy with the orange mask? Well, if they were going to forget about it, the least he could do was look at it before bringing it back to the outside gate if it didn't taste good… right? He got up, taking several twigs and leave with him and started walking over to it, forgetting to make sure they had actually left first.

"KAIRI!" He jumped, the loud voice of one of the boys scaring him so bad he feel backwards onto his butt. He used his feet to scurry back into the brush while the girl whipped around. "What is it?" She asked, taking a cautious step towards him, looking around whirly. He quickly threw the bag off of his shoulder, ran over to her, grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder and ran to the other side of the bridge, which exploded. "What the-?!" The boy with the orange mask yelled. He stared and tipped his head, amazed at the site. The orange with black smoke, and pretty colored sparks; That must have been what that noise was. He thought he was just hearing annoying repeated noises again. Last time he heard a noise that sounded like a bird saying "Mii" over and over, like it was on loop and never ended.

Apparently not this time.

He watched as all three of them stared with wide eyes. The tallest one recovered first. "Let's go. We need to tell Jack about this." The one in the orange mask nodded. "Y-Yeah…" The girl clung to the taller one's shirt. "You sure that wasn't us?" He looked down at her. "How?" She pointed to the bag. "Count the pumpkins." The taller one had a look on his face that he got it. He opened the bag and started looking for something. "Puuunnn-k!nnn…" He droned quietly to himself. When it got colder, they were still around, but they weren't warm. They were as cold as the air, and tasted even worse than normal. Their skins were tougher, and made his tongue turn purple, and he didn't even have to grip it in between his fingers to feel his tongue, because he already did. He ran his tongue over his chipped tooth, pressing to hard and making it hurt a bit.

"They're all in there, so it definitely wasn't us." The silver haired one said, standing up from the bag. "Then we should get out of here fast!" The one in the orange mask added. The girl quickly picked up the bag and put it on her shoulder, taking the middle spot in between the boys as they left, the taller one the rear, the ghost dog above her.

She was so lucky… Everyone around her- without even a second thought, protected her. They didn't worry about themselves even for a second. What was so special about her that made them do that? Maybe- just maybe, if he could find out what it was and get whatever made her like that, then maybe… The least that would happen is that they wouldn't run away… At least look at him before running off, dare to breathe, maybe even say something in a kind tone, even if it was the same words. "No", "Don't", "Stay away", "Go away", "Don't come closer". Just in a kind tone…

That alone made him envious of her twice in a short amount of time.

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・Kingdom Hearts・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

"So something exploded on the bridge did it?" The Professor said. The trio nodded at the same time, but all different ways. Riku, a simple nod, Sora, a repeated, late and slow start of a nod, and Kairi a few small nods with an "Un." The Professor scratched his chin. "It must be that Hollow Boy! It must be!" Jack said without a second thought. Sally gave him a regretful look. That was the only thing about him that she felt that he really needed to work on- that quick-to-judge behavior. "Well, it might have been, but…" Sora said, crossing his arms and tipping his head to the ceiling, signaling he was currently thinking. "Sora's got a point. From the way that was set up, it doesn't matter if it was a pumpkin bomb or not. None of us noticed it, and it was obviously rigged. So if it was this Hollow Kid or whatever, he'd have to be pretty smart."

Kairi was currently putting all of the items they had collected so far onto the slab that the Professor had cleared for them and checking off a list he had made for Jack's disposal. "I agree with Sora too. Besides, how'd he know we were coming to that area? For all he knew, we could of just been staying in town the entire time." Sora nodded. "Yeah!" Well he certainly felt lucky. Riku and Kairi pointed out all of the facts that he thought about, but couldn't process out to his mouth. Donald and Goofy helped him with that too when they were around. "So your saying he had nothing to do with it?" The Professor asked critically. "We didn't say that." Riku said, crossing his arms, his tail flicking out of agitation of being accused without it being verbalized. He hated it when people made assumptions about things or him- his biggest peeve. "We just said we're hypothesizing he didn't set up the bomb- We never said he wasn't involved." Sora raised his hand then spoke. "Can I ask why we're throwing around blame? I didn't come here to solve mystery cases. I'm no good at those anyway, so, let's just let the chips fall where they may and let sleeping ghost dogs lie… okay?" Everyone just stared at Sora, shocked and awed at the wisdom that fell out of his mouth. Riku ran over and started inspecting him. "This thing doesn't have a Wisdom Valor form does it?" He asked, talking about Sora's costume. Sora started laughing and swatting Riku away. "Riku that tickles, stop!" Riku continued to inspect Sora. "Seriously, I think his brain just got turned on guys! We should celebrate and date this momentous occasion! Make it a flippin' holiday!" Sora officially stopped Riku from tickle-inspecting him by pushing him away by his chest. "Which is what we came here for. Not to worry about stupid stuff." Everyone watched the pair do their usual thing, silent. In its own sense, they were mystifying, but then again, they were just being boys.

"…Somebody trying to kill us is stupid?" Kairi asked, confused. "You know what I mean! With my luck- good or bad, or whatever crack your jokes- we're bound to find out who did it sooner or later, so for now, let's worry about other stuff. Like what a lizards tongue is…" He mumbled the last part, but Riku being close by heard and chuckled, shaking his head. "Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't tell you? Lizards tongue is an odd shaped flower, and Broken hearts are these creatures that grow in the bottom of our swamps." Sora nudged Riku. "Told you." Riku rolled his eyes.

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・Kingdom Hearts・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

He heaved into the ground the contents of his stomach: something that disagreed with him. Gross… It smelled terrible and looked like one of those purple mushrooms but mushed. What had he eaten? Oh, yeah… That gross green worm. It almost looked to be lit up. He had chewed it and everything, but it was now in one piece and wriggling around in his vomit- disgusting. He stared at it, curious and wondering if maybe his memory was being contradictory. He had chewed it, right? Why was it still whole and moving? Even if he hadn't, wouldn't it be dead still? It was inching towards a red spider, that was crawling over to it too.

They must have been friends.

That had to be it. They never wanted to be separated- best friends. He always had wanted one of those… Someone to at least not run away. But the thought of having someone sit next to him and draw in the dirt with him… The thought of them actually being _kind_ to him…

Having someone that's that close to you must give you some reason to stay alive. The will to want to be around someone who would worry if you hurt yourself… Go through anything… _He'd_ go through anything to have that… Even for a moment…

Any amount of pain or cruelty just for _one_ person to even look at him without running away or threatening him or what anyone else usually does… He'd give up limbs and organs just to have that for a second… He was envious of the townspeople… So very jealous… How they got to be around everyone else and took it for granted… What would they do if that were them? Surely they wouldn't be able to deal with it how he could. Of course not. They had it from the start… They've always had hands to reach for, comforting words when needed… And what did he have? Some damn worm that probably was considered higher grade than him, and even it had friends! Even the damn worm had friends…

That though made him jealous of the worm and stepped on it, as well as crushing the spider with his thumb.

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・Kingdom Hearts・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

End A/N: A few days after I wrote the part where Kairi said that the boys had mush leaking out of their ears, I had a freaky dream where that happened and it looked like the sand that goes into the doll in the movie Coraline- but it wasn't Riku and Sora. Still creepy as hell though…

Anyone else notice that Roxas ate deadly mushrooms and is still alive? Lol

And no damn it! Roxas is not dumb, he's just extremely simple, but it'll get better. He just talks funny and doesn't know that many words.


End file.
